---
title: FreeDOS 1.3 under QEMU on Windows 10: networking and mTCP FTP
date: 2022-02-23
summary: FreeDOS 1.3 in QEMU refused to bring up networking ("QEMU network detected… Physical hardware networking is not supported"). Removing one guard line from FDNET.BAT and using a pcnet NIC fixed it; an FTP 530 error was a Windows folder permission.
tags: freedos, qemu, mtcp, ftp, windows
environment: Windows 10 host; QEMU (qemu-system-x86_64); FreeDOS 1.3; mTCP
author: shaun
status: published
aliases: Windows-10-Qemu-FreeDOS-13-Notes.html
---

## Symptoms

Networking did not come up at boot. FreeDOS printed:

```text
QEMU network detected.
Physical hardware networking is not supported at this time.
```

Later, mTCP's `FTP.EXE` could log in to an FTP server on the Windows host but then failed
with `530 User cannot log in, home directory inaccessible`.

## Cause

FreeDOS 1.3's network startup script (`FDNET.BAT`) skips driver loading when it detects
QEMU. The 530 error came from the Windows FTP server: the anonymous user could not read the
shared folder.

## Fix

Launch QEMU with an emulated AMD PCnet NIC and user-mode networking:

```bat
qemu-system-x86_64 -m 150 -cpu 486 -rtc base=localtime ^
  -drive file=freedos.img,format=raw -net nic,model=pcnet -net user
```

In `C:\FREEDOS\BIN\FDNET.BAT`, comment out (or delete) the line that jumps past QEMU:

```bat
REM if /i "%1" == "start" goto NoStartQEM
```

Check `C:\FREEDOS\MTCP.CFG` for sane settings (DHCP works with `-net user`). After a reboot
the interface comes up.

For the FTP error, open the shared folder's **Properties → Security** on the Windows host
and add the group **Everyone** with read/write access (or whatever account the FTP site maps
anonymous users to).